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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandrayaan-2 | 1/6 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-2 | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:59:52.302451+00:00 | kb-cron |
Chandrayaan-2 (; from Sanskrit: Chandra, "Moon" and yāna, "craft, vehicle") is the second lunar exploration mission developed by ISRO after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, the Vikram lunar lander, and the Pragyan rover, all of which were developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map and study the variations in lunar surface composition, as well as the location and abundance of lunar water. The spacecraft was launched from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh on 22 July 2019 at 09:13:12 UTC by a LVM3-M1 rocket. The craft reached lunar orbit on 20 August 2019. The Vikram lander attempted a lunar landing on 6 September 2019; the lander crashed due to a software error. The lunar orbiter continues to operate in orbit around the Moon. A follow-up landing mission, Chandrayaan-3, was launched in 2023 and successfully performed a lunar landing.
== History == On 12 November 2007, representatives of the Roscosmos and ISRO signed an agreement for the two agencies to work together on the Chandrayaan-1's follow-up project, Chandrayaan-2. ISRO would have the prime responsibility for the orbiter, rover and the launch by GSLV, while Roscosmos was to provide the lander. The Indian government approved the mission in a meeting of the Union Cabinet, held on 18 September 2008 and chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The design of the spacecraft was completed in August 2009, with scientists of both countries conducting a joint review. Although ISRO finalised the payload for Chandrayaan-2 on schedule, the mission was postponed in January 2013 and rescheduled to 2016 because Russia was unable to develop the lander on time. In 2012, there was a delay in the construction of the Russian lander for Chandrayaan-2 due to the failure of the Fobos-Grunt mission to Mars, since the technical issues connected with the Fobos-Grunt mission which were also used in the lunar projects including the lander for Chandrayaan-2 needed to be reviewed. The changes proposed by Roscosmos necessitated increase in lander mass and required ISRO to decrease mass of its rover and accept some reliability risk. When Russia cited its inability to provide the lander even by a revised time-frame of 2015 due to technical and financial reasons, India decided to develop the lunar mission independently. With new mission timeline for Chandrayaan-2 and an opportunity for a Mars mission arising with launch window in 2013, unused Chandrayaan-2 orbiter hardware was repurposed to be used for the Mars Orbiter Mission. Chandrayaan-2 launch had been scheduled for March 2018 initially, but was first delayed to April and then to October 2018 to conduct further tests on the vehicle. On 19 June 2018, after the program's fourth Comprehensive Technical Review meeting, a number of changes in configuration and landing sequence were planned for implementation which increased the gross lift-off mass of spacecraft from 3,250 kg to 3,850 kg. Initially an uprated GSLV Mk II was the chosen launch vehicle for Chandrayaan-2 but this increased spacecraft mass and issues with launch vehicle upratement forced the launch vehicle to be switched to more capable LVM3. Issues with engine throttling were found during testing pushing the launch to the early 2019 and later two of the lander's legs received minor damage during one of the tests in February 2019 delaying the launch even further. Chandrayaan-2 launch was scheduled for 14 July 2019, 21:21 UTC (15 July 2019 at 02:51 IST local time), with the landing expected on 6 September 2019. However, the launch was aborted due to a technical glitch and was rescheduled. The launch occurred on 22 July 2019 at 09:13:12 UTC (14:43:12 IST) on the first operational flight of a GSLV MK III M1. On 6 September 2019, the lander during its landing phase, deviated from its intended trajectory starting at 2.1 km (1.3 mi) altitude, and had lost communication when touchdown confirmation was expected. Initial reports suggesting a crash were confirmed by ISRO chairman K. Sivan, stating that "it must have been a hard landing". The Failure Analysis Committee concluded that the crash was caused by a software glitch. Unlike ISRO's previous record, the report of the Failure Analysis Committee has not been made public. However, just days before the Chandrayaan 3 launch, the then ISRO chief S Somanath noted during the sidelines of the India Space Congress that the primary issues were the higher thrust by the 5 engines used to reduce the velocity, the artificial limit which restricted the craft to a maximum of 10 degrees change per second, and the small landing area.
== Objectives == The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-2 lander were to illustrate the ability to soft-land and operate a robotic rover on the lunar surface. The scientific goals of the orbiter are
to study lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice; to study the water ice in the south polar region and thickness of the lunar regolith on the surface; and to map the lunar surface and help to prepare 3D maps of it.
== Design == The name Chandrayaan means "mooncraft" in Sanskrit and most other Indian languages. The mission was launched on a GSLV Mk III M1 with an approximate lift-off mass of 3,850 kg (8,490 lb) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island of Andhra Pradesh. As of June 2019, the mission has an allocated cost of ₹ 9.78 billion (approximately US$141 million which includes ₹ 6 billion for the space segment and ₹ 3.75 billion as launch costs on GSLV Mk III M1. Chandrayaan-2 stack was initially put in an Earth parking orbit of 170 km (110 mi) perigee and 40,400 km (25,100 mi) apogee by the launch vehicle.
=== Orbiter ===